The Conservatives conjured the NDP’s 1996 budget scandal during Question Period on April 8.
Not once or twice. But 16 times.
Starting with leader John Rustad, members of the opposition party questioned the legitimacy of the March 4 spending plan, calling it a “fudge-it budget.”
The NDP’s $10.9 billion deficit forecast is now outdated, due to the March 31 elimination of the consumer carbon tax, which was expected to bring in $1.8 bililion this year.
“Can the Finance Minister confirm that nobody in her ministry was actually thought out of a plan as to how to deal with this?” Rustad asked Brenda Bailey. “Or, quite frankly, was this just pure incompetence or an intentional fudge-it budget?”
Replied Bailey: “Our budget was tabled in accordance with legislative requirements and prepared with the information available and government decisions at the time. A budget is a moment in time, and it is not appropriate to include speculative things in a budget.”
After winning the 1996 election, the Glen Clark-led NDP admitted that its $114 million surplus budget was actually a $318 million deficit.
Elizabeth Cull, who was the finance minister in 1996, oversaw the party’s 2022 leadership election, which David Eby won by default. Cull is now a member of the B.C. Emergency Health Services board.
WATCH: Conservatives taunt NDP over “fudge-it budget.”
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is trying to interfere in Canada’s April 28 federal election, according to an official federal election monitoring group.
The Security Intelligence Threats to Elections Task Force (SITE) revealed at its weekly briefing on April 7 that China’s most-popular WeChat news account carried stories on March 10 and March 25 that promoted Prime Minister Mark Carney.
The anonymous Youli-Youmian blog is tied to the CCP’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission. SITE, which includes Canada’s intelligence agencies, detected spikes in coordinated inauthentic behaviour intended to influence Chinese-Canadian voters who use WeChat.
SITE Task Force comparison of WeChat posts promoting Mark Carney (Global Affairs/Privy Council)
Youli-Youmian called Carney “Canada’s hard-tough prime minister and a “rock star economist.”
The same WeChat entity targeted Conservative MP Michael Chong in June 2023 and Liberal Chrystia Freeland in January 2025 when the former Deputy Prime Minister was running for the Liberal leadership against Carney.
The Communications Security Establishment’s 2023-2024 National Cyber Threat Assessment warned that WeChat “has been used to spread misinformation, disinformation and malinformation and propaganda specific to the Chinese diaspora.” WeChat was also used during the 2021 federal election to spread disinformation to help Liberal Parm Bains defeat Steveston-Richmond East Conservative incumbent Kenny Chiu.
The announcement came a week after Carney refused to kick out a Liberal candidate who suggested his Conservative opponent be handed over to Chinese diplomats for a bounty.
Paul Chiang, the Don Valley North incumbent, quit late March 31. He made the comments in January against Joe Tay, a Conservative candidate wanted by the Hong Kong Police for his pro-democracy activism.
The Canadian Friends of Hong Kong, in conjunction with the Found in Translation Substack, launched the first of nine visual maps April 7 to identify and counter agents of Beijing’s political warfare.
The first Dotting the Map flowchart is called “Follow the Money, Follow our PMs,” and provides a timeline from Pierre Trudeau to Carney.
Canadian Friends of Hong Kong co-sponsored map showing China’s influence in Canada.
It mentions the elder Trudeau’s opening of diplomatic relations with Mao Zedong in 1970. Also the late 1990s end of Ports Canada Police by Jean Chretien at the same time as national security warnings about China targeting Canadian ports. Also mentioned, the influence of the Desmarais family, their backing of the Canada China Business Council and co-founder SNC-Lavalin, now known as AtkinsRealis.
About Carney, Dotting the Map emphasizes recent deals with China during his chairmanship of Brookfield Asset Management.
“Brookfield has substantial offshore banking exposure and manages over US$3B assets in PRC state-linked real estate and energy companies.”
Carney held US$6.8 million in Brookfield stock options at the end of 2024. He resigned from Brookfield to enter politics, but has refused to publish his list of shareholdings. Instead, he has opted to follow parliamentary disclosure rules that would only kick-in if he is elected in the Nepean riding on April 28. That is not good enough for either Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre or NDP leader Jagmeet Singh.
Charles Burton, a sinologist and former diplomat at Canada’s Beijing embassy, said the detailed schematic shows the “tangled relations between agencies of the CCP, Chinese business, Beijing supported astroturf social organizations in the guise of Chinese diaspora civil society, their Chinese-Canadian leaders (many selected and vetted by Beijing) and Canada’s political and economic elite.”
On the 139th anniversary of incorporation, Vancouver’s city manager has apologized to voters, candidates and civic parties for the hours-long lineups and counting delays that marred the April 5 by-election.
In an April 6 statement, Paul Mochrie called it “unacceptable” and “deeply regrettable.” He vowed that the city will do better for the 2026 civic election.
Paul Mochrie (Vancouver Economic Commission)
“The extended wait times at many voting places reflected flawed planning assumptions for this by-election that informed staff decisions and the plan presented to council,” Mochrie said. “Recognizing the effort by the City’s elections team to promote and execute this plan, it was clearly insufficient to accommodate the electorate in accessing an efficient voting process.”
COPE’s Sean Orr (34,448 votes) and OneCity’s Lucy Maloney (33,732) were elected to serve until the next election in October 2026, after Green Adriane Carr retired and OneCity’s Christine Boyle was elected an NDP MLA. Jaime Stein (9,267) and Ralph Kaisers (8,915) of the ruling ABC Vancouver party were the lowest vote-getters among the seven, party-affiliated candidates.
The polls were scheduled to close at 8 p.m., but votes were still being cast after 10 p.m. at West End Community Centre, West Point Grey Community Centre and Kitsilano Community Centre.
The city elections office said 67,962 ballots were counted, 40% more than the 48,645 in the 2017 by-election. It did not say that the 15.09% turnout rate in 2025 was slightly higher than the 10.99% from the 2017 by-election that sent Hector Bremner of the NPA to city council.
It also did not say that in 2017, voters could visit one of 50, mostly schools and more than 600 people staffed the operation with a $1.5 million budget. In January, the ABC majority city council rubber stamped a plan to spend $2 million with 265 staff spread out across 25 mostly community centres.
It was the most-chaotic civic election since 2014 when a “vote anywhere” policy was instituted to encourage a higher turnout, after years of assigning voters to the nearest school, church or community centre.
Vision Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson was re-elected for a second time and became Vancouver’s first mayor to serve a four-year term.
Voting at four of the 117 stations was extended beyond the 8 p.m. deadline after running out of ballots. Voters who lined up inside or outside voting stations by those times were allowed to vote. People with disabilities complained that they could not be accommodated at several voting stations.
Additionally, postcards mailed to downtown condo residents contained incorrect information, recommending they vote at a location outside their neighbourhood, thus potentially deterring seniors, people with mobility issues and work commitments from voting.
Third-place again
In the April 5 by-election, TEAM for a Livable Vancouver leader Colleen Hardwick recorded 17,352 votes for third place. An improvement on the 16,769 from when she finished third in the 2022 mayoral election, behind Ken Sim and Kennedy Stewart.
TEAM’s other candidate, Theodore Abbott, was fifth (11,581).
Hardwick, an NPA-elected, 2018-2022 city councillor, told supporters gathered at Simpatico on 4th that planning for the 2026 election is underway. She delivered a concession speech at 11:40 p.m. with two-thirds of the polls reporting.
She said the April 5 results showed “an overwhelming negative response to ABC, a radically mismanaged electoral process, and the success of the NDP cabal, which is off the back of the recent provincial election.”
“I don’t want to be in despair for my children and my grandchildren, but I am so worried about the future of our city at this point, folks, I really believe that what we were doing with TEAM gave us hope, hope for the future of the city,” she said. “I don’t get any hope from what I’m seeing here.”
Hardwick said she believes TEAM in 2026 “can get the people of this city to rise up and speak out for themselves, because that’s not we’re seeing, we’re seeing petty party politics playing themselves out here.
“I wasn’t looking for a job. I’m looking to try and do the right thing. I feel a strong sense of responsibility to turn this ship around,” Hardwick said.
Transparency International Canada is sounding the alarm. Canada has fallen on a world anti-corruption ranking and Canada is behind China and Russia in real estate secrecy and anti-money laundering practices.
Trevor Loke (Google Meet)
The executive director of Transparency International Canada says voters deserve better from whoever forms government after the April 28 federal election.
Trevor Loke is Bob Mackin’s guest on this edition of thePodcast.
Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines and the Virtual Nanaimo Bar.
The Vancouver Whitecaps could bring Major League Soccer back to Hastings Park.
But not to the Empire Field site, where they launched in 2011 and where the North American Soccer League franchise played from 1974 to 1983.
Hastings Racecourse on Oct. 12, 2024 (Mackin)
The Whitecaps’ ownership confirmed in an early evening statement on April 4 that they are “currently in discussion with the City of Vancouver regarding the construction of a stadium at the PNE fairgrounds site.”
A source told theBreaker.news that the two parties have a memorandum of understanding to explore building a soccer-specific stadium at Hastings Racecourse.
Hastings Racecourse has operated as a thoroughbred horseracing venue since 1892. Slot machines were added in 2008, but it has not lived up to expectations for leaseholder Great Canadian Gaming.
Where would that leave horseracing? The president of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association of B.C. is wondering.
“Nobody has talked to us,” Dave Milburn told theBreaker.news. “It’s shocking to hear that this is being contemplated without any notice or our group being informed.”
Last December, the Greg Kerfoot-controlled Whitecaps announced they retained Goldman Sachs to find a new owner. The club has a sweetheart lease at B.C. Place Stadium, where B.C. Pavilion Corporation keeps the food and beverage revenue. B.C. Place is undergoing a $109 million renovation demanded by FIFA in order to host seven matches during the 2026 World Cup.
A source told theBreaker.news that a new stadium deal could be the catalyst to complete the sale of the club. The Hastings Racecourse land could be transferred to the Whitecaps’ new owner, who would be responsible for financing the stadium project.
The announcement by the Whitecaps comes on the eve of a civic by-election. Two seats are up for grabs.
Mayor Ken Sim’s 2022 ABC Vancouver campaign included a photo op in the Hastings grandstand. But not to discuss the ponies. He is in favour of expanding SkyTrain under or over Hastings Street and onward to North Vancouver.
A new stadium would be a logical magnet for a station.
The NDP-aligned party aiming to keep a seat on Vancouver city council in the April 5 by-election is concealing the mining background of its candidate.
Bike lane campaigner Lucy Maloney’s career with Australian mining giant BHP is omitted from the OneCity Vancouver website. It calls her a holder of a law degree and an MBA who built “a career in both the public and private sector.”
A LinkedIn profile lists Maloney’s jobs as superintendent of sourcing and contracts for BHP Billiton Worsley Alumina Pty. Ltd. from 2008 to 2011 and health safety, environment and community and risk specialist for BHP Billiton Minerals Exploration beginning in March 2011.
Her husband, Scott Maloney, held multiple roles for BHP from 2007 to 2017 in Australia, Singapore and Chile. He is now vice-president of environment for Vancouver copper and zinc giant Teck Resources Ltd.
Maloney did not explain why OneCity omitted her BHP experience from the website.
“I supported operations in rural communities producing aluminium, copper and potash, which are necessary for the climate transition, and to feed the world,” Maloney said by email.
According to the Corporate Research Project: “BHP Billiton has often been the subject of controversy over its hardline labour relations policies and what is seen as its overly aggressive pursuit of new mining opportunities in poor countries.”
Ex-Burnaby-Lougheed MLA Katrina Chen and retired Richmond city councillor Harold Steeves are urging voters to send Sean Orr to 12th and Cambie on April 5.
However, former Minister of Finance and Minister of Advanced Education Selina Robinson hopes voters look elsewhere on the ballot.
“Be sure to exercise your right to vote in the upcoming by-election and please don’t elect someone who has no interest in keeping Jews safe, especially when antisemitism is at an all time high,” Robinson wrote on Facebook. “All Vancouverites deserve better than this.”
Orr publicly expressed support on X (formerly Twitter) for an un-permitted Feb. 12, 2024 anti-Israel protest that blocked traffic on the Burrard Bridge, an important link for ambulances between downtown and Kitsilano (Orr: “not illegal”).
Orr also praised the May 23, 2024 takeover of the Samuel and Frances Belzberg library at Simon Fraser University downtown. Protesters covered the names of the prominent Jewish philanthropists and posted one bearing the name of senior PFLP leader Khalida Jarrar (Orr: “was a fantastic event”).
One of Orr’s latest endorsers is scheduled to appear in Vancouver Provincial Court on April 16. Harrison Johnston is among 13 protesters who were charged with mischief for blocking railway tracks in East Vancouver during a May 31, 2024 anti-Israel protest that delayed Amtrak travellers.
Also endorsing Orr: Atiya Jaffar, the campaigns manager for U.S.-based environmental protest charity 350. Jaffar was involved in organizing anti-Israel protests in 2023 and 2024 and the 2020 Shut Down Canada protests.
The NDP-aligned party aiming to keep a seat on Vancouver city council in the April 5 by-election is concealing the mining background of its candidate.
Bike lane campaigner Lucy Maloney’s career with Australian mining giant BHP is omitted from the OneCity Vancouver website. It calls her a holder of a law degree and an MBA who built “a career in both the public and private sector.”
From OneCity Vancouver website.
A LinkedIn profile lists Maloney’s jobs as superintendent of sourcing and contracts for BHP Billiton Worsley Alumina Pty. Ltd. from 2008 to 2011 and health safety, environment and community and risk specialist for BHP Billiton Minerals Exploration beginning in March 2011.
Her husband, Scott Maloney, held multiple roles for BHP from 2007 to 2017 in Australia, Singapore and Chile. He is now vice-president of environment for Vancouver copper and zinc giant Teck Resources Ltd.
Maloney did not explain why OneCity omitted her BHP experience from the website.
“I supported operations in rural communities producing aluminium, copper and potash, which are necessary for the climate transition, and to feed the world,” Maloney said by email.
According to the Corporate Research Project: “BHP Billiton has often been the subject of controversy over its hardline labour relations policies and what is seen as its overly aggressive pursuit of new mining opportunities in poor countries.”
Ex-Burnaby-Lougheed MLA Katrina Chen and retired Richmond city councillor Harold Steeves are urging voters to send Sean Orr to 12th and Cambie on April 5.
However, former Minister of Finance and Minister of Advanced Education Selina Robinson hopes voters look elsewhere on the ballot.
“Be sure to exercise your right to vote in the upcoming by-election and please don’t elect someone who has no interest in keeping Jews safe, especially when antisemitism is at an all time high,” Robinson wrote on Facebook. “All Vancouverites deserve better than this.”
Orr publicly expressed support on X (formerly Twitter) for an un-permitted Feb. 12, 2024 anti-Israel protest that blocked traffic on the Burrard Bridge, an important link for ambulances between downtown and Kitsilano (Orr: “not illegal”).
Anti-Israel radicals Atiya Jaffar and Harrison Johnston endorsing socialist Sean Orr’s city council campaign.
Orr also praised the May 23, 2024 takeover of the Samuel and Frances Belzberg library at Simon Fraser University downtown. Protesters covered the names of the prominent Jewish philanthropists and posted one bearing the name of senior PFLP leader Khalida Jarrar (Orr: “was a fantastic event”).
One of Orr’s latest endorsers is scheduled to appear in Vancouver Provincial Court on April 16. Harrison Johnston is among 13 protesters who were charged with mischief for blocking railway tracks in East Vancouver during a May 31, 2024 anti-Israel protest that delayed Amtrak travellers.
Also endorsing Orr: Atiya Jaffar, the campaigns manager for U.S.-based environmental protest charity 350. Jaffar was involved in organizing anti-Israel protests in 2023 and 2024 and the 2020 Shut Down Canada protests.
B.C. Place Stadium will become Western Canada’s biggest non-marijuana indoor grow op next spring.
Manager B.C. Pavilion Corp. (PavCo) went to market on March 24, seeking suppliers of two small and nine large lighting rigs. They will be used to grow the new synthetic fibre reinforced natural grass surface that will be installed for seven FIFA World Cup 26 matches beginning June 13, 2026.
B.C. Place Stadium on April 30, 2024 (BC Gov/Flickr)
Deadline for bids is April 21. The tendering document says PavCo requires April 6, 2026 delivery of the lighting rigs.
In January, PavCo published a call for suppliers of lawn mowers and the hybrid sod.
The Crown corporation is spending $109 million on renovations to the 1983-built stadium.
PavCo is also seeking quotations for provision of cybersecurity services (deadline April 14) and wifi equipment (deadline April 21).
The former is a negotiated request for proposals. PavCo wants to award the contract May 12 and begin the contract on May 30. Services required include security information and event management, managed detection and response and risk management through a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week security operations centre.
“The services should include onboarding, initial training, and ongoing support to ensure robust protection of PavCo’s systems and infrastructure against cyber threats. The proposed solution must be compatible with Microsoft’s Defender for Office and Defender for Endpoint, which are currently in place.”
Meanwhile, City of Vancouver is seeking a contractor to provide wayfinding, dressing and signage services around B.C. Place Stadium, public spaces, transportation corridors, SkyTrain and SeaBus stations. The goal is to “enhance navigation, elevate event branding.”
Plans include English, French and Indigenous language signage “with the ability to adapt based on attendee demographics and FIFA requirements.”
Deadline for bids is April 22.
The city wants to approve wayfinding, dressing and signage designs by June 30 and install elements between New Year’s Day and May 15, 2026. The removal and recycling period would last from July 30-Dec. 31, 2026.
FIFA World Cup 26 sponsors include U.S. corporations Bank of America, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Home Depot, Verizon, as well as Saudi Arabia’s state oil company Aramco, Qatar Airways and China’s Lenovo Computer and Mengniu Dairy.
According to the NDP government’s April 2024 estimate, it could cost taxpayers as much as $581 million to be one of the 16 tournament hosts.
The Conservative campaign is downplaying a provincial fine levied against a candidate’s municipal party.
On April 2, Elections BC announced a $5,400 penalty for Richmond Community Coalition Association (RCCA). Chak Au, a Richmond city councillor who is running in Richmond Centre-Marpole in the April 28 election, was RCC’s top vote-getter in the 2022 election.
Pierre Poilievre and Chak Au (right).
At a July 2022 fundraising event, authorized principal official Thomas Leung accepted $10,800 for the RCC school board campaign from donor Yuan Li. RCC financial agent Scott Jaroszuk was not at the event.
“The finding was not against Chak Au personally,” said a statement sent by Sam Lilly of the Conservative campaign. “Elections BC notes ‘RCC has been cooperative with our investigation’ and ‘RCC cooperatively brought themselves into compliance.’”
RCC co-operated with the investigation and Jaroszuk provided proof of return of the prohibited donations to Li, as required under the law.
“It became apparent that contributions originally attributed to Hui Lin, Zo Hong, Hua Wang, Isaac Pang, Jacqueline Pang, Edmond Lau, Ivan Pang, Anthony Cheung and Jian Jun Zhang, all came from cheques provided by Yuan Li from Yuan Li’s bank account,” said the Elections BC investigation letter.
RCC ran four candidates for school board (Alice Wong, Rod Belleza, Linda Zhen Li and Rachel Ling) and three for city council (Au, Sheldon Starrett and Rahim Othman). Au topped the 2022 city council polls with 16,515 votes. Wong and Belleza were elected to school board. Linda Li unsuccessfully ran in the 2024 provincial election for the NDP in Richmond-Bridgeport.
“Accepting prohibited contributions gives an elector organization an advantage in that they did not need to seek contributions from an eligible source, saving them time during a busy campaign,” said the Elections BC investigation letter.
Au did not respond immediately for comment.
Meanwhile, in West Vancouver, Mayor Mark Sager’s financial agent and former law firm partner, Ron Nairne, was fined $500 for accepting a prohibited contribution.
Specifically, a $1,087.50 discount from John Moonen and Associates Ltd. Nairne was cooperative and it was a first offence.
In January, the B.C. Prosecution Service said that special prosecutor John Gordon decided not to file criminal charges against Sager or Nairne because he believed there was no substantial likelihood of conviction. They were investigated for potentially fraudulent, post-election expenses: the purchase of $14,622.52 of furniture and $11,755 for a communications firm.
Sager said he “paid nothing” to attend the Feb. 12 event, hosted by real estate marketer Bob Rennie. Sager said he was invited by Duncan Wlodarczak, the Liberal Party of Canada in B.C.’s president and chief of staff with Onni, the real estate developer behind West Vancouver’s Evelyn master-planned community.
One of them is making a comeback: Colleen Hardwick, who was elected to city council on the NPA ticket from 2018 to 2022. In 2022, she finished third in the mayoral election as leader of the TEAM for a Livable Vancouver party.
Hardwick and her TEAM running mate, Theodore Abbott, hope voters will choose them to form a bloc to oppose Mayor Ken Sim’s majority ABC Vancouver ahead of the October 2026 civic election.
Colleen Hardwick is Bob Mackin’s guest on this special midweek edition of thePodcast.
